Steve Litchfield has some thoughts about how S60 can improve

The unveiling of the iPhone has, as we predicted, got everyone talking about ways to make smartphone interfaces more instantly approachable. And, I might add, not before time.

The original one-handed S60 interface, first introduced with the Nokia (NYSE: NOK) 7650, was something of a revolution, making fairly PIM applications and multimedia operable within a standard phone form factor for the first time. In the intervening five years, functionality has continued to increase, both in quality and number of applications, with a corresponding increase in capability under the skin, with full OS support for the likes of 3G, Wi-Fi, modern video and audio codecs, and so on. But, not withstanding a few tweaks to the ’standby’ screen, the basic S60 interface has remained much as it always had.

I was somewhat disdaining of S60 at first, but with the advent of devices like the Nokia 6630, with full stereo sound and a decent camera at last, I at last saw a device that could ‘do more’ for me and made the switch. Today’s Nokia N95 and N93 are direct descendants of both the 7650 and the 6630 and the interface remains largely unchanged.

Now, for a battle hardened S60 user like myself, and probably for you the reader, S60 is so familiar that everything makes perfect sense. Where tricks and tweaks are needed in daily life, we do them without thinking. But what about a completely new user?

Source: All About Symbian

I can’t say anything until I’ve tried S60v3FP2. Supposedly a lot has been done to make it a more friendly OS.

Time will tell.